5 Reasons Why Washington State was Crushed by Cal

Game Recap

Washington State‘s losing streak continued with their 5th straight loss to California on Saturday night. With the win Cal is only one win away from being bowl eligible while WSU must win their remaining 3 games to have any chance to go bowling in 2011.

WSU QB Lobbestael did not have a good game. He faced constant pressure from the Cal pass rush and was only 15/37 for 155 yards with 0 TD and 0 INT.

2. No offense, no win

For the game the Cougars only had 224 yards of offense and most of those yards came in the 4th quarter (in garbage time).

How bad was the WSU offense?

Well, after Cal’s Will Kapp galloped for a TD to give the Golden Bears a 30-0 lead in the 3rd quarter the WSU Cougars had been penalized for more yards than they had gained.

Going...going....

3. The Cougars’ run defense really struggled

For the game Cal rushed for 288 yards and their QB Zach Maynard, who had thrown 7 INT in his last 3 games, only had to air it out 17 times. The Golden Bears were racking up so many yards on the ground, it became a bit of a joke to be honest.

Cal starting RB Isi Sofele had a great game rushing for 138 yards with 1 TD averaging a legit 6 yards per carry.

4. The Cougars stunk on 3rd down

Washington State had 16 3rd downs in the game on offense and only converted 4 of them. A 25% 3rd down conversion rate is not going to cut it.

5. Down early the Cougars had to air it out

Since the Golden Bears jumped out to an early lead the Cougars had to go to the air to come back.

WSU RB and Berkley native Rickey Galvin had a good game rushing for 73 yards with 1 TD averaging a solid 6.1 yards per carry. It was a shame that WSU could not use him more, but down big they could not afford to run the ball and eat up clock.

Next Up: Things do not get any easier for the Cougs, in their next game they face a ranked Arizona State Sun Devils team.

ASU did lose on Saturday and the Cougars will be at home so at least they have that going for them. I still don’t see a win for this team to finish of the season though. Long days ahead in Pullman.

Note: I had to laugh. We got a reply tonight to this article on our Facebook page. Drew replied to the link for this article with his 5 reasons the Cougs lost. 1. W 2. U 3. L 4. F 5. F Figure it out! LOL